Family regrets 911 call that led to son?셲 death at deputies??hands

If she hadn’t called 911, Mary Ann Sherman believes her older son would still be alive. But at the time, she felt like there was no other choice.

Chase Sherman was having a paranoia attack, believing that his parents and girlfriend were trying to kidnap him as the four traveled south on I-85 to their Florida home that day in November 2015. He tried to get out of the car and was becoming violent. His family suspected he had taken drugs. But drugs were not detected, according to the autopsy.

The family, fearing Chase would hurt himself or them, pulled the car over to the median in Coweta County, and Mary Ann placed the emergency call.

Deputies and a paramedic arrived at the scene on Nov. 20. Within minutes, Chase Sherman was dead. An autopsy determined the deadly combination of repeated Taser shocks and an EMT?셲 body weight caused his heart rate to increase and restricted his ability to breathe.

Attorney Cade Parian (from left) Kevin Sherman, Attorney L. Chris Stewart, David Sherman, and Mary Ann Sherman talk to the media on Wednesday in Atlanta. The family of Chase Sherman, who was killed during a bizarre altercation with Coweta County deputies and an EMT, spoke out today in reaction to the DA?셲 decision not to bring charges against the deputies. David Sherman, the victim?셲 brother, and his parents, Kevin and Mary Ann Sherman, talked to reporters along with attorneys L. Chris Stewart and Cade Parian. BOB ANDRES /BANDRES@AJC.COM

“I think the sheriff is very powerful,” Stewart said Wednesday. “Taking one of these cases to the grand jury takes a lot of courage.”

When the first deputies arrived, they started yelling immediately at 32-year-old Chase, who was combative while being handcuffed. Then, the deputies repeatedly used their Tasers, videos show. An EMT arrived at the scene and held Chase down with his weight.

“I’m dead. I’m dead!” said Sherman as he lay, handcuffed, face down on the floorboard of the car. “I said I quit. I quit!”

?쏷hey ripped him out and let him drop to the ground,??Kevin Sherman, Chase?셲 father, said Wednesday.

Family members said they now struggle to make it through each day, with everything a constant reminder of the son and brother who loved water and helped run the family?셲 business, leading dolphin-watching expeditions and ferrying parasailers in Destin, Fla.

?쏧 think about him every minute,??Kevin Sherman said.

Last month the family put Chase?셲 ashes to rest at sea in a memorial reef, a fitting resting spot for a man who was on the water every day. The next step for the Shermans will be filing a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit. Their attorney also plans to request a federal investigation.

?쏞hase was not the enemy,??Mary Ann Sherman said. ??a href="http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local/the-death-of-chase-sherman-victim-or-perpetrator/nrWQb/" target="_blank">And they treated him like an enemy. He wasn?셳 a criminal, he was a person having a breakdown. He needed help.??/p>

Chase Sherman, according to his mother, had said he?셝 used Spice, or synthetic marijuana, a few days before traveling to the Dominican Republic for his brother?셲 wedding. Mary Ann Sherman said her son began acting erratically while there and became even more irrational while on layover in Atlanta, refusing to board the plane back to Florida. That?셲 when the family decided to rent a car and drive back to Florida.

Designer drugs such as Spice are often undetectable in the blood, GBI Chief Medical Examiner Jonathan Eisenstat told the AJC.